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PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


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REPORT  OF  THE  MINORITY. 

The  minority  of  the  Committee  appointed  by  ilie  Presby- 
tery to  consider  the  Inaugural  Address  of  Professor  C.  A. 
Briggs,  D.D.,  respectfully  submit  the  following  Report  : 

I.  In  the  first  part  of  the  address.  The  Sources  of  Divine 
Authority,  it  is  not  sufficiently  clear  whether  the  Bible,  the 
Church,  and  the  Reason  are  regarded  as  co-ordinate  or  not. 
But  the  writer  was  speaking  as  a  Protestant,  and  Protestants 
unite  in  exalting  the  Bible  above  the  Church  and  the  Reason. 
As  a  part  of  the  inaugural  service  he  had  solemnly  subscribed 
to  the  statement :  "  I  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  the  only  infallible  rule  of 
faith  and  practice."  And  to  avoid  being  misunderstood  he, 
throughout  the  address,  refers  to  his  other  writings  for  a  fuller 
exposition  of  his  views. 

Thus  in  his  Biblical  Study,  p.  i  :  "  The  Bible  is  the  chief 
source  of  the  Christian  religion,  Christian  theology,  and  Christian 
life!  While  other  secondary  and  subsidiary  sources  may  be  used 
in  connection  with  this  principal  source,  they  cannot  disjjense 
with  it.     For  the  Bible  contains  the  revelation  of  redemption. 

Nowhere  else  can  such  a   redemption  be  found,  save 

where  it  has  been  derived  from  this  fountain  source,  or  from 
those  sacred  persons,  institutions  and  events  i)resented  to  us  in 
the  Bible.  " 

(i.)  The  Authority  of  the  Church. — This  is  clearly  stated  on 
p.  63  :  "I  am  one  of  those  wh(^  believes  that  God  iniiabits  His 
Church,  and  guides  it  in  its  official  decisions,  not  inerrantly 
in  every  utterance,  but  in  the  essential  doctiines  in  which  the 
universal  Church  is  in  concord." 

And  again,  p.  65  :  "  The  Bible,  from  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  leads  us  through  its  forms  into  the  very  presence-chamber 
of  God,  but  our  minds  are  filled  at  the  same  time  with  the  historic 
forms  of  the  ancient  world.  It  is  the  office  of  the  Church,  in  ihe 
use  of  its  institutions,  to  bring  us  into  communion  with  the 
Triune  God  in  the  forms  of  the  modern  world,  and  give  us  the 
assurance  of  His  presence  with  the  Church  through  its  history, 
and  with  us  in  the  hour  and  moment  of  our  use  of  its  institutions. 
The  Church  unites  with  the  liible  in  giving  us  the  assurance  of 
Ciod's  presence  and  authority  throughout  history,  Christian  as 
well  as  Hebrew,  and  of  His  gracious  help  in  the  present.  It 
gives  us  the  blessed  experience  of  the  communion  of  saints.  It 
opens  the  eyes  to  see  that  we  are  in  the  outer  ranks  of  innumer- 
able lines  of  the  host  of  the  living  God,  ever  on  the  march 
through  the  life   in    this    world    into   the   gates   of   Paradise,  and 


onward  on  the  high  way  of  holiness  to  the  throne  of  God  and 
the  Lamb,  which  ever  bounds  the  horizon  of  the  beatific  vision  " 

In  this  way  "  the  majority  of  Christians  from  the  apostolic 
age  have  found  God  through  the  Church.  Martys  and  saints, 
fathers  and  schoolmen,  the  profoundest  intellects,  the  saintliest 
lives  have  had  this  experience.  Institutional  Christianity  has 
been  to  them  the  presence-chamber  of  God.  They  have  therein 
and  thereby  entered  into  communion  with  all  saints."  p.  25. 

All  this  is  beautifully  in  accord  with  the  teaching  of  tlie 
Confession  concerning  the  Church.  "  Unto  the  catholic,  visible 
Church  Christ  hath  given  the  ministry,  oracles  and  ordinances 
of  God  for  the  gathering  and  perfecting  of  the  saints  in  this  life 
to  the  end  of  the  world  ;  and  doth  by  his  own  presence  and  Spirit, 
according  to  his  promise,  make  them  effectual  thereunto." — Chap. 
XXV,  2-3.  And  as  to  the  Divine  Authority  in  the  Church:  "  The 
Lord  Jesus  as  king  and  head  of  His  Church  hath  therein 
appointed  a  government  in  the  hand  of  church  officers,  distinct 
from  the  civil  magistrate.  'J'o  these  officers  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  are  committed,  by  virtue  whereof  they  have 
power  respectively  to  retain  and  remit  sins,  to  shut  that  kingdom 
against  the  impenitent,  both  by  word  and  censures,  and  to  open 
it  unto  penitent  sinners,  by  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel,  and  by 
absolution  from  censures,  as  occasion  shall  require." — Chap. 
XXX,  1-2. 

(2.)  77/1?  Authority  of  the  Reason,  p.  26 — "A.nnther  means  used 
by  God  to  made  Himself  known  is  the  forms  of  the  Reason,  using 
Reason  in  a  broad  sense,  to  embrace  the  metaphysical  categories, 
the  conscience  and  the  religious  feeling.  Herein  the  Holy  of  Holies 
of  human  nature  God  presents  himself  to  those  who  seek  Him." 
If  the  conscience  does  not  speak  with  a  Divine  Authority  it  has 
no, legitimate  authority.  If  God  does  not  commune  with  man 
through  the  religious  feeling,  /.  e.,  the  heart,  communion  with 
God  is  but  a  figure  of  speech.  If  God  cannot  be  known  through  the 
forms  of  the  Reason,  He  is  unknowable,  for  even  the  Bible  comes 
to  men  through  the  forms  of  the  reason,  and  is  addressed  to  the 
understanding,  the  conscience  and  the  heart.  It  does  not  follow 
because  "  the  light  of   nature,  and  the   works  of   creation  and 

providence      are  not  sufficient  to  give  that  knowledge  of 

God  and  of  His  will,  which  is  necessary  unto  salvation,"  that  the 
Holy  Spirit,  working  in  the  heart  and  conscience,  may  not  It-ad 
a  man  like  Martineau  to  a  true  belief  in  God  ;  or  because  the 
Holy  Scriptures  are  "most  necessary,"  as  one  of  the  "outward 
and  ordinary  means  whereby  Christ  communicateth  to  us  the 
benefits  of  redem|>tion."  that  there  can  be  no  knowledge  of  God 
and  no  ])ossibility  of  salvation  apart  from  the  Scriptures,  for  that 
is  to  affirm  that  the  whole  heathen  world,  without  a  i^ossible 
exception,  is  lost  for  ever — a  doctrine  that  the  Church  has 
declared  needs  revision. 

11.   In  regard  to  the  i)assagc  on    Incrravcw,   pp.  35.  36,  your 


Committee  in  the  minority  find  nothing  in  the  Confession  that 
IS  antagonized  by  it.  The  expressions  in  Chap  I:  "By  His 
singular  c?re  and  providence  kept  pure  in  all  ages  and  are  there- 
fore authentical;  "  '-the  many  other  incomparable  excellencies, 
and  the  entire  perfection  thereof,  whereby  it  doth  abundantly 
evidence  itself  to  be  the  Word  of  God;"  "  our  full  i)ersiiasion  of 
the  infallible  truth  and  divine  authority  thereof."  etc.,  all  refer 
evidently  to  the  Scriptures  as  they  now  exist  in  the  original 
languages,  not  to  the  Scriptures  as  first  committed  to  writing  in 
the  original  manuscripts.  But  no  one  claims,  and  the  Confession 
certainly  does  not  claim,  inerrancy  for  the  Scriptures  in  their 
present  text.  The  utmost  that  is  claimed  is  inerrancy  for  the 
original  manuscripts.  Therefore,  it  is  submitted,  these  exjtres- 
sions  in  the  Confession  cannot  mean  inerrancy. 

Nor  does  the  address  deny  the  inerrancy  of  the  original 
manuscripts.  "  1  shall  venture  to  affirm  that,  so  far  as  I  can  see, 
there  are  errors  in  the  Scriptures  that  no  one  has  been  able  to 
explain,  and  the  theory  that  they  were  not  in  the  original  text  is 
sheer  assumption,  upon  which  no  mind  can  rest  with  certainty." 
It  is  the  dogmatic  statement  of  inerrancy,  that  the  Scriptures  must 
be  absolutely  inerrant,  for  "  one  proved  error  destroys  their 
authority" — that  is  opposed  as  dangerous.  "These  errors  are 
all  in  the  circumstantials,  and  not  in  the  essentials;  they  are  in 

the   human   setting,   not    in   the    precious    jewel   itself;     

Whether  the  divine  authority  extends  to  the  circumstantials  of 
this  divine  teaching  or  not,  it  is  unwise,  and  it  is  unchristian  to 
force  men  to  accept  the  divine  authority  of  the  Bible  or  reject  it, 
on  the  question  of  its  inerrancy  in  the  circumstantials  and  the 
details  of  every  passage,"  p.  36. 

It  is  difficult  to  avoid  misunderstanding  the  address  on 
these  points,  unless  it  is  interpreted,  as  the  writer  requests  that 
it  may  be,  by  the  light  of  his  other  writings.  The  other  side  of 
his  position  is  there  seen.  For  example:  In  Biblical  Study, 
p.  13,  "  Our  adversaries  may  overthrow  our  systems  of  theology, 
our  confessions  and  catechisms,  our  church  organizations  and 
methods  of  work,  for  these  are,  after  all,  human  productions,  the 
hastily  thrown  up  outworks  of  the  truth;  but  they  can  never 
contend  successfully  against  the  ^Vord  of  God.  that  livefh  and 
abideth  forever,  which  though  the  heavens  fall,  and  the  earth 
pass  away,  will  not  fail  in  one  jot  or  tittle  from  the  most  com- 
plete fulfillment,  which  will  shine  in  new  beautv  and  glory,  ns  its 
parts  are  one  by  one  searchingly  examined,  and  which  will  prove 
itself  not  only  invincible,  liut  all  conquerin'j,  as  point  after  point 
is  most  hotly  contested.  We  are  assured  that  at  last  it  will  claim 
universal  obedience  as  t1>e  pure  and  faultless  minor  of  Him  who 
is  Himself  the  brightness  of  the  Feather's  glory  and  the  exjiress 
image  of  His  person"  And  p.  160:  "Doubtless  by  (iods 
'  singular  care  and  providence  they  have  been  kept  pure  in  all 
ages   and   are   therefore  aiitheniit  al.'      Doubtless  throughout  the 


whole  work  of  the  authors',  'the  Holy  Spirit  was  present,  caus- 
ing His  energies  to  flow  into  the  spontaneous  exercises  of  the 
writers'  faculties,  elevating  and  directing,  where  need  be,  and 
everywhere  securing  the  errorless  expression  in  language  of  the 
thought  designed  by  God.'  " 

III  On  p.  53  is  the  statement:  "Another  fault  of  the  Protest- 
ant theology  is  the  limitation  of  the  process  of  redemption  to  this 
world,  and  the  neglect  of  those  vast  periods  of  time,  which  have 
elapsed  for  most  men  between  death  and  the  resurrection." 
This  is  at  first  startling,  but  only  because  of  the  somewhat 
unusual,  but  perfectly  correct,  sense  in  which  the  writer  uses 
the  word  redemption.  In  the  paragraph  immediately  jjreced- 
ing  he  defines  his  usage  :  ''  The  Bible  rises  high  above  the 
faults  of  modern  theology,  and  comprehends  in  its  redemption  of 
man  his  justification,  sanctification,  and  glorification."  Again 
on  p.  52  :  "  The  redemption  of  the  Bible  comprehends  the  whole 
process  of  grace.  Modern  Protestants  have  unduly  emphasized 
the  beginning  of  redemption,  justification  by  faith  alone."  The 
statement  clearly  means,  not  that  those  who  are  not  redeemed  in 
this  life  may  be  redeemed  after  death,  but  that  those  whose 
redemption  is  begun  in  this  life,  in  their  justification,  will  find  the 
process  continued  and  completed  in  their  perfect  sanctification 
and  glorification  in  the  life  beyond.  As  to  the  dangerous 
doctrine  that  the  issues  of  this  life  are  not  final,  that  death  is  not 
decisive,  that  there  will  be  an  opportunity  given  in  the  middle 
state  for  repentance  and  salvation  ;  in  other  words,  that  there  is  a 
probation  after  death,  there  is  not  a  hint  of  it  in  the  address.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  expressly  repudiated,  p  54.  A 11  that  is  affirmed 
regarding  ihe  middle  state  is,  that  the  wicked  sink  into  deeper 
and  more  awful  depths  of  depravity,  and  the  righteous  rise  to 
more  blessed  heights  of  sanctification  and  glorification.  The 
interpretation  that  the  writer  gives  to  the  teaching  of  the  Con- 
fession on  the  subject  of  sanctification  after  death  may  or  may 
not  be  correct.  The  question  whether  sanctification  is  completed 
in  the  moment  '*  immediately  after  death,"  or  in  .ho.  state  "  imme- 
diately after  death,"  is  not  vital  to  "the  system  of  doctrine  con- 
tained in  the  Confession  of  Faith."  It  is  not  sufficient,  in  order  to 
establish  charges,  to  show  that  he  is  at  variance  with  certain 
phrases  and  expressions  in  the  Confession,  but  that  he  is  clearly 
in  conflict  with  the  system  of  doctrine  which  it  contains.  Believ- 
ing that  this  is  not  the  case,  that  charges  based  upon  this  address 
cannot  be  successfully  sustained,  and  that  such  a  tiial  for  heresy 
would  be  a  cause  of  immeasurable  disturbance  and  injury  to  the 
Church,  your  Commitite  in  the  minority  recommend  that  no 
judicial  proceedings  be  entered  upon. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

J.    H.    MclLVAINF, 

CoiinnittC£  in  t/ir  Minoi  itw 


